HR 1190 was a Republican attempt to block Democrats’ “Slaughter Solution” (aka “Deem & Pass”) that is being considered by Democrats as an end run around the Constitution’s Article I, Section 5 requirement for an up or down vote on the Senate’s version of Obamacare. Our Democrat Congressmen are so rash, narcissistic, and condescending they believe this unconstitutional tactic to avoid a direct vote on the bill will fool their constituents in Arkansas.

Pelosi and her Democrat allies (all the other 221 Democrats who voted for this resolution) think their constituents are stupid enough to believe yesterday’s vote isn’t a vote for Obamacare. But voting to avoid a direct vote and consider a bill passed without voting on it can’t be considered anything but a “Yea” vote for the bill being avoided. (If that sentence seems a little confusing, it’s because we want you to get the idea just how this Democrat play is designed to confound and confuse voters.)

In the last two days calls to Marion Berry’s (AR-01)office yielded assurances that he will read the entire bill before voting on it, and no final bill was even out yet. Mike Ross (AR-04) outright lied when he declared his opposition to Obamacare. And Vic Snyder (AR-02) never made any bones about his disdain for his constituents’ will. Now this.

Even President Obama admitted yesterday’s vote IS a vote for the unpopular Obamacare in his contentious interview with Brett Baier on Wednesday. When asked by Baier if he supported the use of the “Slaughter Rule” he responded,

“What I can tell you is that the vote that’s taken in the House will be a vote for health care reform. And if people vote yes, whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for health care reform. And I don’t think we should pretend otherwise.”

*emphasis added

This kind of Democrat shenanigan is exactly the reason we must send a conservative Republican to Congress from the 1st District in November. Doing so will guarantee a vote against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House and put an end to this chicanery.Rick Crawford, one of two GOP candidates for Berry’s seat spoke out against this unconstitutional tactic in his blog post, “Crawford Speaks Out Against ‘Deem and Pass’.”

On a day where a Fox News poll shows only 35% of Americans favor the health care reform bill, Pelosi is attempting to use a tactic dubbed “deem and pass” to push through the Senate’s health care reform bill, without having members of Congress actually vote on the bill. FoxNews.com reports this plan is being considered because, “…many House Democrats don’t want to cast a vote in favor of the unaltered Senate bill, which they oppose for numerous reasons.”

Republican central Arkansas businessman Scott Wallace, running for Vic Snyder’s 2nd District seat says it’s time to “unequivocally say NO to government run health care” and put this issue to rest for good. Wallace’s primary opponent Tim Griffin, a US Army reservist and former US attorney, called the vote against this “common sense resolution” a vote for Nancy Pelosi, and against the people of Arkansas. From Griffin’s press release:

“It is clear Arkansans must elect a new conservative majority to Congress in 2010. More importantly, we need to elect conservative leaders who will represent our values, not Speaker Pelosi’s, and work for the people of Arkansas, not against them.

Garland County Tea Party President and GOP candidate for Mike Ross’ seat in the 4th District, Glenn Gallas slammed all three Arkansas Democrat congressmen in his press release. Gallas says,

” [Ross] allowed the bill to go forward to the detriment of his constituents to please Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. When the Republicans moved to stop the “Slaughter Rule”, Mike Ross, Vic Snyder, and Marion Berry, voted along their party line as they often do, shooting down the chance of stopping the Slaughter rule, thereby permitting the Obama Health Care bill to move forward…”

The following invitation was distributed by the Crawford for Congress Campaign.

Greetings!

You Are Invited!

The Crawford for Congress Campaign would like to cordially invite you to attend the grand opening of the Crawford for Congress Campaign Headquarters this Saturday starting at 10am!

This grand opening is yet another chapter in the Crawford for Congress Campaign to take traditional American values back to Washington in a candidate that has the experience, insight, and ability to make a difference in Washington! Rick Crawford is the Statesman that we need to make a difference for the people of the First District!

WHEN: Saturday, February 13th

WHERE: 1920 South Church Street, Jonesboro

WHAT TIME: Begins at 10am, Press Conference by Rick at 1030am, and will go until Noon.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Parking will be available in the adjacent parking lot in front of Gracy’s Cafe & Wells-Fargo Mortgage. Parking will also be available next door at NAPA Auto Parts.

DIRECTIONS: The Crawford for Congress H.Q. is located directly across Church Street from Walgreens on Highland and Union and is also across Highland Avenue from McDonalds in Jonesboro.

We look forward to you coming out on Saturday to visit with Rick about his campaign! We will also have free campaign materials that you can take with you including new Crawford for Congress bumper stickers.

This will be a great opportunity for you to visit with other campaign supporters as together we work to send an experienced leader to Washington who will be a trusted voice for his constituents!

For more information or directions please call the campaign headquarters at 870-203-0540.

Arkansans joined the nationwide protest movement last year as conservative voters found their collective voice and stood against the Obamanation of our country. From Tea Parties to Health Care Town Halls, these voters calls for responsibility and accountability from their elected officials went largely unheeded. But several candidates for office were paying attention, even when our Representatives and Senators weren’t.

Rick Crawford, GOP candidate for Arkansas’ 1st Congressional district seat in the US House of Representatives was one of these. He’s well known and recognized by 1st district voters who are actively involved in their local Republican Committees or Tea Parties. He’s been working to spread his message since last spring, not only at protests, but local festivals and events across the 1st District.

Crawford appears to have a real shot at becoming the first Republican to represent the 1st Congressional District since 1875. And his campaign is gaining momentum.

But if you were counting on the mainstream media to inform you of Rick’s candidacy, you may not yet know he exists. That’s because television stations and newspapers, statewide and local to the 1st District, have largely ignored his campaign.

Traditional news sources across the state have failed to cover several major developments in what could be an historic campaign. In the past month, Crawford has received three major endorsements from influential Republicans in the state. Mike Huckabee, Ed Bethune, and Asa Hutchinson have thrown their support to this Jonesboro veteran with strong ties to the 1st District’s large agricultural community.

Even the television station from his hometown of Jonesboro doesn’t seem to think his candidacy deserves more than a casual mention every once in a while. Searching their site you’ll see one article devoted to Rick–the August 27, 2009 article on his official announcement that he was entering the race. Those search results do include two articles covering Rep. Marion Berry’s (D) announcement that he won’t seek reelection and Crawford is mentioned almost as an aside in these.

Search results of the archives of the Jonesboro Sun reveal a similar dearth of articles on Crawford’s campaign. The obligatory August announcement that he’s running, then a couple of mentions in articles about Berry. The Sun did mention Crawford in a late January article titled “1st District Race Far from Settled” in late January, but only toward the end and after a long list of potential Democrat contenders.

Arkansas’ statewide newspaper, The Arkansas Democrat Gazette, also mentions Crawford in several Berry articles, but nothing devoted entirely to Rick’s campaign. But the Democrat Gazette did consider it newsworthy that Princella Smith, a potential GOP challenger to Crawford, is thinking about throwing her hat in the ring following Berry’s announcement that he won’t run again.

Of the four major television stations in Little Rock, only KTHV 11 has an article on their website about Crawford. That’s an AP article from May of last year announcing Rick’s intent to challenge Berry.

Last May, on the influential conservative blog Redstate.com, Moe Lane speculated “We will no doubt see more [Crawford] campaign-related items as time goes on.” But we haven’t…at least not from traditional media sources.

Luckily, Crawford embraced new media and social networking sites early on. His Facebook page sports over 1300 fans now and almost 800 follow him on Twitter. Many of these supporters depend on the blog posts on his website to keep them informed since the mainstream media refuses to.

Several Facebook fans recently wondered about the lack of coverage by the mainstream media and one even speculated the media’s liberal bias is to blame.

Shelley asked, “Why is it that we aren’t seeing any articles on you in the papers? I keep waiting to see you mentioned and they talk about all the other candidates and you are never mentioned!”

Grace responded, “I agree, I never see anything about you in the papers. What is up with that?”

And Kelly replied, “I think the main reason that the papers around here are not picking up Rick is because they are controlled by a liberal bias. They are afraid to give Rick the time of day because he is the most creditable [sic] threat to eliminate Nancy Pelosi’s liberal agenda in Washington…”

This evening Rick Crawford formally announced his candidacy for a 2010 run for Arkansas’ First District as United States House of Representatives. At present, he will be running against the Democrat incumbent Congressman Marion Berry. Crawford’s announcement was made at a public event held at the farm of David Hodges in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Crawford was literally born in the service of his country on a military base while his father served. After graduating from high school, Rick enlisted in the United States Army where he served as a bomb disposal technician. He served four years and advanced to the rank of Sergeant and earned numerous medals for service in the U.S. and Southwest Asia. He also had the privilege of serving on numerous U.S. Secret Service security details supporting presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush among other U.S. and foreign dignitaries. He understands his “oath” to preserve and to protect the United States of America and the need to support our military.

After serving in the Army, Rick attended Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and earned a B.A. in Agriculture Business and Economics. Since graduating, Rick’s career has been primarily focused on agriculture in both agri-communications and general agri-business. He has been a news anchor and agri-reporter on KAIT-TV in Jonesboro, Farm Director on KFIN-FM in Jonesboro and producer/anchor of the syndicated Delta Farm Roundup TV show airing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Greenville, Mississippi. Rick has also been a featured agri-columnist in the Northeast Arkansas Business Today publication. He now owns and operates the AgWatch Network – a farm news network heard on 39 radio stations in Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky as well as TV stations in Little Rock and Jonesboro.

In 2006, Rick also helped shape agriculture and agriculture policy for former Republican Congressman and Undersecretary of Homeland Security Asa Hutchison in his bid to be Arkansas Governor. Rick is a broadcast council member of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Rick is also a member of the 4-H Foundation Board of Arkansas. Rick currently serves as first vice-chairman of the Craighead County GOP Committee. Rick and his wife Stacy – also an ASU Alumnus – live in Jonesboro. They have two children – four-year-old Will and 22-month-old Delaney.

Crawford outlined his legislative priorities for the many in attendance.

“Today marks a new day in the First District”, Crawford said. “I am a small businessman, I own an agri-business and understand the challenges farmers face, and I am a military veteran who is better qualified to represent the First District of Arkansas than the incumbent”. Crawford went on to outline his priorities for Congress; “We need to grow the economy, create jobs, and rein in federal spending.”

Crawford emphasized his conservative philosophy on the role of the federal government. “It is time we take conservative principles, Arkansas values, and tested leadership back to Washington and get our nation back on track”.

Crawford also outlined key initiatives that will benefit the lives of the everyday Arkansans:

The Economy

Cut taxes across the board for every taxpayer

More incentives for businesses to mitigate risks and create jobs

Federal Spending & The National Debt

Cut wasteful spending and start paying off our national debt

Reduce the size of our government so businesses can grow again and prosperity can be realized by every American

Healthcare Reform

No government run health care

No public option

No government funded abortions, end of life counseling programs, or euthanasia initiatives

Free market principles to help bring costs down and increase access to quality care

Agriculture

Create programs where farmers can mitigate risk through tax credits and tax cuts so farmers are not leveraged every year

Allow farmers to have group insurance coverage like other businesses

“Today starts a new day in which the voices of everyday Arkansans will be heard in Washington”, Crawford said. “As your next Representative, you can be assured I will stand for your values in Congress.”

Approximately 100 people who our Democratic elected officials would call right-wing extremist un-American members of an angry mob gathered today outside Congressman Marion Berry’s office in Cabot, AR yesterday. The exercise of their 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble and voice their grievances with government by these concerned citizens earns them such monikers from President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and even their own Arkansas delegation in DC.

The Good Lord blessed rallygoers with outstanding weather for the Cabot, AR Recess Rally. After several weeks of 90+ temperatures, high humidity, and rain, they had sunshine, low humidity, and a high in the mid 80’s.

Speakers at the rally included Jacque Martin, Buddy Rogers, Dr. James McNair, and organizers John Allison and Belinda Whitley.

Martin organized the Heber Springs Tea Parties and serves as a coordinator for the organization, Secure Arkansas. She passionately explained to the crowd that Obama’s government-run health care plan is less about providing quality care than it is about controlling the American people. Rogers and Dr. McNair are both exploring the possibility of seeking the GOP nomination for the 2010 Senate race against Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln.

Dr. McNair is a practicing opthamologist in Heber Springs and Rogers is currently working as a financial adviser in Rogers, AR. Rogers is an Army veteran who served 21 years as a medical officer in health care administration. For almost a quarter of that time he worked as a professor in a Baylor University-US Army master’s degree program in health care administration, teaching, advising graduate students, and conducting research. Rogers and Dr. McNair proposed alternative solutions to the Obama plan for health care reform, which proved Obama and congressional Democrats are lying through their teeth when they state Republicans have no alternatives to offer. The alternatives proposed at the rally did not include a government-run or single-payer system.

Whitley, a Registered Nurse, read several quotes from one of Obama’s top health care advisers, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, which make clear the doctor’s vision for our health care system will deprive the elderly and the very young of quality care, in order to preserve those “productive” citizens who contribute to the US Treasury.

Allison kicked off the rally by debunking the myth propagated by Democrats that rallies such as this are “astroturf” campaigns, implying special interest backing from lobbyists and other DC political interests. He explained that he spent his entire life in Arkansas with the exception of four years he served in the US Marine Corps. Allison told the crowd prior to taking on his current career as a high school math teacher at Vilonia High School, he and his wife owned and operated a chicken farm in north central Arkansas. He stated, “Folks, it doesn’t get much more grassroots than chicken farming.”

Allison and Whitley said they’d hoped for a larger crowd, but this was a start. Compared with other rallies held across the country, the turnout was pretty good on a per capita basis. Cabot, AR has a population of less than 24,000 compared to almost twice that in Salina, KS. According to one internet article, the rally in Salina also had approximately 100 in attendance. It was estimated about 2,000 showed up for rallies in Chicago which has a population of almost 2.5 million. So, for a small town like Cabot, the turn out was good and organizers consider the rally a success.

Only time will tell if Berry will listen to his constituents. Rallies held in Jonesboro and Mountain Home outside Berry’s other Arkansas offices coincided with today’s event in Cabot. Berry was invited to address the crowd but refused.

What would you call a Congressman who voted for a bill that led to the US being on the hook for nearly $24 TRILLION, then voted to spend billions more on the two most inefficient American auto companies, then voted to spend another $787 billion on a stimulus plan that didn’t stimulate the economy, then voted for a federal budget that QUADRUPLED the deficit in just one year, and after all that, claimed to be a fiscal conservative?

Hypocrite seems to fit the bill.

After voting for all the irresponsible spending noted above, last week I received an email from Berry titled “Join me in my support of PAYGO.” Just in case you don’t know, PAYGO is the short, misleading name for HR 2920 that passed the US House on July 22 of this year. The name of course leads one to believe this bill will force Congress to pass a balanced budget every year once it becomes law. So you may be asking yourself why would we have a problem with it?

It’s simple. This bill DOES NOT force Congress to pass a balanced budget. It’s nothing more than a typical Washington con job, intentionally designed to fool the American people. Marion Berry and his Democratic colleagues expect you to see the title and read no more. They don’t expect you to read the bill and they don’t expect you to look back to the previous grossly irresponsible, wasteful votes listed above.

But we did read the bill and the Democratic hypocrisy is more blatant than we could have even imagined. After pages and pages of lawyer language demanding the return of fiscal responsibility in DC, we arrived at the final section of the bill. Section 11 is titled “Exemptions” and as its name implies, it enumerates all the government programs the DC swindlers can continue to spend more money than we have on. Now, if you want to read them all, you’re going to be here a while.

Here’s a list of programs that the government will still be able to spend more than it takes in on, even if this supposed “PAYGO” legislation becomes law. This list just makes the hypocrisy of Berry and the rest of the DC Democrats as obvious as the nose on your face.

‘Activities resulting from private donations, bequests, or voluntary contributions to the Government.

‘Activities financed by voluntary payments to the Government for goods or services to be provided for such payments.

‘Intragovernmental funds, including those from which the outlays are derived primarily from resources paid in from other government accounts, except to the extent such funds are augmented by direct appropriations for the fiscal year during which an order is in effect.

‘Tribal and Indian trust accounts within the Department of the Interior which fund prior legal obligations of the Government or which are established pursuant to Acts of Congress regarding Federal management of tribal real property or other fiduciary responsibilities, including but not limited to Tribal Special Fund (14-5265-0-2-452), Tribal Trust Fund (14-8030-0-7-452), White Earth Settlement (14-2204-0-1-452), and Indian Water Rights and Habitat Acquisition (14-5505-0-2-303).

With all of these “exemptions,” does anybody really believe this bill will provide for a balanced budget? This is a typical Berry tactic. In the months leading up to an election, Berry dons a conservative hat. As soon as he’s elected, or his liberal Democratic colleagues need his vote, he’s all too willing to turn on his conservative Arkansas constituents.Don’t let him fool you. Berry’s no fiscal conservative.

Representative John Boozman, Arkansas’ only Republican lawmaker released the following statement yesterday.

Boozman Statement on White House Internet Monitoring

Washington, Aug 7 –

U.S. Representative John Boozman (R-AR) today issued the following statement regarding White House Internet Monitoring efforts:

“The Obama Administration has requested that e-mails and internet materials produced by private citizens that are critical of the President’s policies be reported to an e-mail address at the White House.

The White House website states: “If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”

American citizens should be free to criticize the policies of the President or any other elected official, including me, without fearing that the criticism will be policed and monitored by the government.

The First Amendment specifically protects speech, and our Constitutional rights must be protected when we use the internet.

I call on President Obama to disable this e-mail address and I ask that he stop soliciting this kind of surveillance on private citizens.”

No such press release was issued by Arkansas’ three Democratic Representatives or two Democratic Senators. I guess Marion Berry, Vic Snyder, Mike Ross, Blanche Lincoln, and Mark Pryor have no problem with our President soliciting American citizens to spy on their neighbors and inform government officials of any dissent to official White House policy.

UPDATE: Curtis Coleman, who many consider the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for the 2010 AR Senate race, will speak at this event.

Marion Berry hasn’t scheduled any interaction with constituents during the August Recess. Polls have shown Arkansas voters DON’T support Obama’s plan to nationalize our health care industry. So we must do something to convince him that we’re serious. That’s why I’m organizing the Cabot, Ar Recess Rally, to be held simultaneously with other rallies across the nation at local offices of US representatives. Together, we can make our voices heard. We can turn the tide and stop the Obama-Reid-Pelosi runaway train bound for government-run health care.

I’ve spoken with City Hall and the Cabot Police Department and we’re clear to hold the Recess Rally outside of Rep. Marion Berry’s Cabot office at 12:00 noon on Saturday, August 22, 2009.

I’d like to have an organizational meeting to get ideas for what others would like to see at this rally on Thursday, August 13 in the evening at a location to be determined. If you have ideas, or would like to speak at the rally, please make plans to attend this meeting.

Contrary to White House and Democratic leaders’ misleading remarks, this is not organized by the Republican Party or insurance industry lobbyists. I haven’t spoken with them and they’ve made no attempts to contact me regarding this rally. This IS a grassroots movement and its success depends on you and me. As such, we have no advertising budget so please help spread the word. Tell your friends, neighbors, and coworkers to join us to stop nationalized health care in its tracks!

Please RSVP and let me know if you’d like to speak and/or volunteer at this event by completing the form below.

I just contacted Representative Berry’s office (again) and asked if he has any town hall meetings or other public appearances scheduled for the August recess. Their answer was typical of the response I seem to get everytime I contact his office, nothing.

“As of now, he doesn’t have anything scheduled,” was all I could get from the man on the phone. Of course, it’s July 31 so that means he’s not going to schedule any time to hear from the folks back home.

One would think, with such an important issue looming as the government takeover of our health care system, the Congressman would want to hear from his constituents while he’s back home. Especially if the answers I’ve been getting to my questions are correct–that he hasn’t yet determined his position on the so-called “public option,” he doesn’t know where he stands on employer mandates, he can’t refute the inevitable rationing of care with previously released versions of the bill, he has no response to questions about the so-called “end of life counseling” that could also be referred to as “go ahead and die counseling,” etc.

Congressman Berry evidently doesn’t want to hear from the same constituents who responded to the Talkbusiness.net poll we reported on here. The 86% who are satisfied with their current health care system may demand he not sell them out to the left-wing Obama-Pelosi branch of the Democratic party. The 74% who prefer private insurance companies to an impossible to navigate monstrous bureaucracy may insist he side with them in this life and death battle. And the 59% of Arkansans who don’t want their taxes increased to fund rationed care of reduced quality may demand he ignore special interest groups like ACORN and the SEIU and listen to those he supposedly represents.

His staff informed me that his Jonesboro office handles scheduling when Berry’s in Arkansas. So be sure to attend the Recess Rally closest to you. Let’s also overwhelm his staff in Jonesboro with calls to demand our employee listen to us. After all, he does work for us.

So which is it, Congressman? View the following video and referenced articles to find the truth! Marion Berry has long denied that he owns any farms that accept subsidies, yet his response to a question on the topic yesterday seems to contradict this. And the data shows “slick” Berry is may seem more dim witted with age but he has been more than smart enough to fleece the public for years.

The Other King of Pork — AR Representative Marion Berry – Congressman Marion Berry (D-AR) promises more pork barrel spending now that the Democrats are in charge of Congress. This is no surprise. Last year, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote, “Arkansas’ Rep. Marion Berry would like to be known as the king of pork. “Nothing would please me more,” he says. . . .